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Taurahe
Taurahe is the language spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. This article is written about ceremonial Taurahe, which is consistent among most tribes. Phonology Taurahe has 5 vowels and 23 consonants. Vowels There are 4 phonemic vowels, /i e u o a/. : Consonants : Structure Phonemically, every syllable is composed of one consonant and one vowel (CV). Words can be any number of syllables. σ :/so/ water :/he/ star :/mo/ greetings σσ :/pa.pa/ droplet :/fe.tʰe/ hunter :/kʰo.to/ kodo σσσ :/k'u.su.tu/ deer :/fe.ʒe.za/ wild σσσσ :/k'a.he.sa.tʰe/ rainstorm :/no.sa.tʰo.ka/ head σσσσσ :/la.kʰo.ta.ma.ne/ earthquake However, sometimes words will end in a syllable that ends in a consonant (CVC). This final C is silent. σ :/pʰoh/ wind :/sus/ quiet σσ+ :/pu.hel/ grass :/t͡ʃʼa.ŋav/ snack :/ma.nas/ mana σσσ+ :/la.vo.zot͡ʃ/ wolf :/pe.ŋa.tam/ gazelle σσσσσ+ :/na.ʃa.tʰe.ma.tek/ face Processes There are many processes that act on these words that change the way they are pronounced from what is expected. /e/ tensing If /e/ is this final segment of a word group, it will be advanced and pronounced i. :/pʰa.va.ne/ → pʰɒ.vɒ.ni 'tooth' :/ʒa.kʰe/ → ʒɒ.kʰi 'mist' Every /e/ in the word group will also become i also. :/e fe.tʰe/ → fi.tʰi 'hunts (3ps)' :/e.t͡ʃe.ne/ → i.t͡ʃi.ni 'strong' Vowel reduction The vowels /a/ and /e/ can be reduced, unreleased, or eliminated in some environments. #/a/ is unreleased when the following conditions are met: # It appears in a CV syllable. # The syllable is unstressed. */ze.va.zatʰ/ → ʐʷɪ.v:.ʐʷɒ 'Zhevra' */pa.la.sa/ → pɒ.ɫ:.s: 'body hair' */t'a.lo.ha/ → t'ɒ.ɫʊ.h: 'mother' Similarly, /e/ is deleted if: # It appears in a CV syllable. # The syllable is unstressed. # The onset is a palatal segment (/ɲ t͡ʃʼ t͡ʃ ʃ ʒ/). */e.t͡ʃe/ → i.t͡ʃ: 'white' */kʰe.ʒe/ → kʰi.ʒ: 'laugh' Morphology Verbs Verbs are conjugated according to tense, aspect, and mood. *Tense **Past: The wolf chased the strider. **Present: The sun rises over Thunder Bluff. **Future: We will celebrate tonight. *Aspect **Perfective: I stumbled. **Imperfective: I will be sleeping when you arrive. *Mood **Declarative: This roast is delicious. **Mirative: Wow! This roast is delicious! **Interrogative: Is this roast delicious? **Hortative: Would you like to take this letter to my father, please? **Optative: I hope you get well soon. **Potential: It may rain tomorrow. Certain combinations may not occur. For example, the hortative, optative, and potential moods can only occur in the future tense. Verbal tags There are 16 verbal tags. : Verbal tags appear before the verb. :/tʰe.fo/ 'see' :/e tʰe.fo a.ŋa/ 'I see' :/ka.va tʰe.fo a.ŋa/ 'I may see' :/fyuz tʰye.fo a.ŋa/ 'I was seeing' Nouns Every noun must have a determiner. The determiner is composed of two parts, the class and the case. Taurahe has five noun classes and fifteen cases, yielding a total of sixty different determiners. Class Nouns are classified as animate, magical, or inanimate. Inanimate nouns are further classified into natural and constructed. There is also a class for concepts which do not fit into such classification. : Case There are fifteen cases in Taurahe. Three of the cases involve verb arguments. : A possessive construction involves two noun phrases. For example, "the Tauren's dog" involves a Tauren and a dog. "Tauren" is put into the possessive case, lu'na''' ʃuhalo'', and the possessive adjective no is inserted into the noun phrase for "dog", lusa kaɲak. The word no by itself only means "possessed", so the possessive case specifies whose possession. : The remaining 12 cases belong to the locatives. Taurahe considers two factors for its locative cases: the location (inside, outside, or on the surface of), and the motion (no motion, towards, away from, or past). These considerations fuse to form 12 distinct role markers. : Pronouns Pronouns are formed by decomposing the determiner into its two parts, then moving the case before the class. Thus; *''luʒa kaɲaɲa'', "the dog" becomes ʒa lu, "him (i.e. the dog)" *''kona aŋazo'', "of the seed" becomes na ko, "of it (i.e. the seed)" The first and second person pronouns aŋa and cye function in this way. ʒa aŋa tyeʔ syakada sa cye, "I am chasing you." In these constructions, the case remains unstressed despite it standing as its own word. Pluralization Plurals are formed by reduplication of the first 2 syllables of the word. If a word has fewer than 2 full syllables, a paragogic /a/ is placed into the structure of the word. *aŋazo seed: aŋa aŋazo seeds *homaʃe hide: homa homaʃe 'hides'' *pʰoh wind: pʰoha pʰoh winds Syntax Phrase order The phrase order is verb-subject-object, but there is quite a bit of movement that obscures the order. Valency *Unergative: *Unaccusative: *Transitive: *Passive: *Antipassive: